Data Backup Software and Service

NDMP started as an effort primarily by Network Appliance and Intelliguard (now part of LEGATO) to provide some enhanced functionality in backup/restore applications, such as the following:

• A means to reduce and at least isolate operating system–dependent portions of backup/restore software by dividing up the functional¬ity in a modular way

• A standardized means of communication between modules

• A means to separate the movement of data and commands onto separate channels or even networks

• Multivendor software integration

NDMP is now positioned as an open-standard protocol aimed at standardizing backup and restore operations in NAS environments. In the future, NDMP may evolve - for example, to also involve mapping of third-party copy to NDMP.

Microsoft offers a version of Windows NT that is sometimes referred to as "Embedded NT" and more often as the Server Appliance Kit, or SAK. This offering is based on Windows 2000, which does not have a volume shadow copy service. For the benefit of original equipment manufacturers that use the SAK to build NAS devices, Microsoft has licensed a snapshot solution and included it in the SAK. This snapshot product is the Persistent Storage Manager (PSM) from Columbia Data Products. This section provides a quick overview of PSM architecture and functionality.